A Halloween Dare
by ohxemxgee
Summary: Squaffie. Yuffie accepts a dare from Kairi on Halloween. Will she do it or not? Short story. R&R! FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

_Happy Halloween!!! This was just a random idea that came to my head out of no where. This will only be a one-shot and most likely will not turn into a story unless you guys convince me or I'm in a super happy and writey mood with nothing else to do, one day. I hope you guys like it!_

_Disclaimer: Same as all my other stories. I still sadly own nothing... Not even the precious Squall! tear_

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In the store Traverse Spirit, Yuffie and Kairi skimmed through the racks of costumes. It was the week before Halloween and Traverse Town was going to have a Halloween party. Everyone in town was excited about it since it's been a long while since they had some fun due to all the Heartless and Nobody invasion. Now that the Heartless and Nobodies were gone they were going to make up for all the time lost.

Something that everyone was even more greatful for was that it was not only Traverse residents that were invited. Everyone who wanted to come was invited. Not only were they going to be able to see Sora, Riku, and possibly Donald and Goofy but there was also a chance that they would see some of their past friends. Friends from before the attacks happened.

It thrilled Yuffie to no end knowing that there was a chance at hand where she could meet her childhood friends. Of course Yuffie was still a child when the invasion happened but she could still remember little memories of Hollow Hallow. Bit by bit more memories flooded back to her when she, Aerith, Cid, Merlin, and Squall went back to try and restore the city.

She remembered that after being there for a few weeks they all knew nothing was the same. The only reason they stayed was to fulfill the reason they were there, bring the cty back to life. After about a year or restoring the city they were finally done. They thought about maybe giving it another chance and see if it would somehow be like it was before but deep down they knew there was no way it would ever return. With that knowledge of change in everything, they decided that Hollow Bastion was the name of what it was before. The city of what it was now was known as Radiant Garden.

Yuffie shook her head to clear her memories. She continued searching through the rack she was at. After reaching the end she sighed and went to the next one. She looked over at Kairi a few racks away and saw that she had about ten costumes in her arms and was still looking for more. Yuffie groaned which made Kairi look over.

"What's-- Oh." she stopped as she saw Yuffie's arms empty. "Haven't you found anything you liked?" Kairi asked walking over to her.

"No... I mean there are some I like but they either cost too much or there's some little thing that I don't like about it" Yuffie replied. _It was some-what easier when the Heartless were here... sure we had to fight but at least we got rewarded with loads of munny for it, _Yuffie thought. Now, that Kingdom Hearts has been sealed and the Heartless were gone munny was a harder thing to get.

Kairi rolled her eyes with a smile, Yuffie had always been picky with everything but food. "Well do you like any of the things that I have?" Kairi inquired showing her the costumes she had picked out.

Yuffie looked through them and found nothing she was really interested in. She sighed, "I'm sorry, Kai but we don't have the same taste."

Kairi smiled gently, "Don't worry about it." Kairi stepped back from Yuffie and studied her a bit. "Hmm..." she muttered thoughtfully. "Do you have any idea on what you want to be?" Kairi asked.

"No..." Yuffie answered. She thought through the possibilities for a moment when suddenly a girl walked out of the back room and caught Yuffie's attention. Her eyes gazed at the girl and trailed to the costume that were in her arms. It was a dress and any other time Yuffie would've turned it down in a second but something about it held her attention and she couldn't quite place it.

She walked over to the saleslady with Kairi following her curiously, "Excuse me, what costume is that?"

The saleswoman turned around and smiled, "It's our deluxe vampiress comstume."

"How much does it cost?" Yuffie asked.

"Five hundred fifty munny" the saleslady replied. "Would you be interested in buying it?"

"Uh, never mind" Yuffie said upon hearing the price.

"She'll take it" Kairi said from behind.

Yuffie jumped not knowing Kairi followed her. She looked back at the saleslady and smiled, "Be right back." She grabbed Kairi's hand and walked a few feet away. "What are you doing? I can't take that it costs too much."

"I'll lend you some of my munny and you know it'll look great on you" Kairi replied.

"No and no. It's just a costume that caught my attention" Yuffie argued.

"Yes and yes. Well if it caught your attention we both know that it was good enough" Kairi argued just as much. "Don't argue with me, Yuff" Kairi added as Yuffie opened her mouth

Yuffie closed her mouth. She knew it was worthless arguing with Kairi, it was the same as fighting with Aerith, you _never _win. "Fine" Yuffie sighed defeatedly.

"Besides you'll need it for my plan" Kairi beamed and walked back to saleslady and took the costume.

Yuffie followed Kairi to the dressing rooms with eyesbrows stitched together, "What plan?"

"Oh nothing. You'll find out soon enough."

"What is it?"

"It's just something you'll do for fun. You'll like it a lot."

Yuffie stayed silent as thoughts of what it could be entered her mind.

"Here, go try it on" Kairi ordered, pushing the costume into Yuffie's arms.

Yuffie took it and went into the closest vacant room. After putting the dress on she turned around slowly to face the mirror and gasped. It was beautiful on her. It was a black and red dress with a huge hood. Most of the dress was black and it was long sleeved with about two inches of the trimming decorated with spider webs along it and red glitters on the webs. It had a rounded square chest and from around her torso was where the red started. It came down to the bottom of the dress in a triangular form with loose cloth threads on both her sides where she could tie it up in her mid back.

"Yuff, come out already! I want to see!" Kairi called from outside.

Yuffie opened the door and slowly stepped out. Kairi gasped, "Oh my god. Yuff... you look so gorgeous!"

Yuffie's cheeks tinted a bit red as she smiled.

"You are definately buying that" Kairi said shooing her back into the room to change.

After changing Kairi dragged Yuffie to the shoes section of the store and convinced Yuffie to buy a pair black strapped high heels.

At the counter, in a glass case where some masks. "Yuff, which out of all these masks do you like the best?" Kairi asked.

"Um..." Yuffie said thoughtfully. "That one" she said, pointing at a mask that covered just the upper part of her face. It was painted red with a black spider on top of the left eye. "It matches my costume the best too," she added after a while.

Kairi smiled, "We'd like to take that mask, too please." Yuffie looked at Kairi in confusion, "Why?"

"You'll find out..." Kairi answered mysteriously.

Yuffie growled softly in frustration. She hated being left out of something. Anything.

Yuffie plopped down on the bed in her room in shock, anger and uncertainty. She couldn't believe what Kairi was making her do. It was impossible! It could and most likely would cost Yuffie her life if Squall ever found out. She trusted Kairi enough to tell her that she was in love with Squall and here she goes and does this. Over and over Kairi's words echoed in her mind.

_"I double dare you to kiss Leon at the Halloween Party."_

Of course Yuffie immediately said no even though she wanted to do it, she never would actually get the guts to do it. Kairi's next set of words made it's way into her mind.

_"Why won't you do it? Are you a scaredy cat? Are you too scared?"_

She growled in annoyance. Another thing Yuffie hated a hell of a lot was being called immature or scared. She also hated turning down dares.

Everyone would think that such a sweet girl like Kairi would never be like this. And here she goes! Yuffie has some evidence! Yuffie could swear that Kairi was Aerith's mini me. They were both nice and sweet little angels to everyone and then when you least expect it they turn into Satans' devils.

With another soft growl she threw herself on her bed with her stomach under her. Stuffing her head into her pillow she screamed, her arms and legs flying every which way.

"Having another one of your temper tantrums, I see" a calm voice said from the doorway.

With the amount of noise Yuffie was making you would think she wouldn't hear a calm voice like that. But that was one of the things about being in love. You couldn't help but pay that one bit of attention to them even if you were busy doing something else. Like throwing a tantrum for example.

Yuffie's head shot up and went to the direction of the door as soon as she heard the voice. Inside her stomach butterflies found their wings and fluttered happily. Outside though she had to keep her act, she glared at Squall.

"Don't you know how to knock?!" she asked angrily.

"I would never come into this mess, you call a room, on free will" he said coldly. "The door happened to be open" he added.

Growling softly, "Get out!" Yuffie threw her pillow as hard as she could at him.

Leon caught the pillow one handed and raised his eyebrow. "Growling isn't very ladylike. You should stop" he said as he tossed her back her pillow and walked away.

Yuffie glared at his retreating back. Why did he have to be such an asshole! She got up and crossed the room and slammed the door shut. After locking it she threw herself yet again into the same positon on her bed. She banged her head onto the pillow a few times.

She hated Squall for being such a jerk to her all the friggin' time. She hated herself for being an idiot and being madly in love with him even if he treated her like crap. She hated Kairi for daring her to do what she had only dared do in her dreams and she knew she would never be able to do in real life. Lastly, she hated Traverse Town for throwing this stupid party! Ever since Squall found out about it he got even colder not only towards Yuffie but to Aerith and Kairi, too.

Nothing could get Aerith and Kairi's mood down though. They both had people they were looking forward to seeing. Hoping to see. Aerith was hoping beyond hope that she would once more find her teen love, Cloud. Kairi was excited to see Sora and Riku, after not seeing them for almost a year.

When Yuffie, Squall and Aerith came back to Traverse Town it just happened that Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy were in town too. Sora asked if they could do him a favor of taking care of Kairi while he and Riku took care of some unknown business. After everything that Sora had done for them they were more than happy to. Yuffie was the most excited though. She was finally going to have someone close to her age be with her. Now after almost a year they have barely heard from the two guys and it was still a mystery to them as to what they were doing.

Yuffie shook her head and transfered her thoughts to Squall. She had a strong gut feeling she knew why he had been distancing himself more from them since then. _Rinoa, _rang through Yuffie's head. Was it because he knew he wouldn't see her there or was it that he was nervous of the chance of seeing her, she didn't know.

Yuffie sighed and she shook those thoughts away knowing they would just depress her. The thoughts of the dare once again entered her mind. She wanted to do it since she knew this was the only chance she had of ever kissing him but she didn't want to do it since it since there were a lot of things that could go wrong.

Yuffie paced aroud her room for about the thousandth time in the last five minutes she'd been awake. Today was Halloween and she was going crazy.

The day after Kairi had dared her she'd grown some courage and accepted it. But only moments after that did she grow anxious. Each day she had tried to stay away from Squall and then did it seem that Squall was actually everywhere she was. She didn't know if she was being paranoid or what.

The week had gone by _way_ too fast for her liking. She now had a dare on her hands that she had to fulfill tonight. If Squall ever found out it was her, she knew she would have to deal with something that would totally suck.

Yuffie stopped and sat on her bed. Sighing, she put her head in her hands. She took a few deep breaths, "Calm down, Yuffie. It's fine. It's not going to be that hard," she calmed herself while her brain disagreed with everything she said.

"Yuffie? Can I come in?" Aerith said from behind the door.

Yuffie looked up, "Yeah come in."

"Hey Yuff. Nervous?" Aerith asked, smiling. Yuffie had told Aerith of the madness that she had agreed to right after she had agreed to do it. Of course, Aerith was very understanding after the shock of knowing that Yuffie liked Leon.

"Can ya tell? Really that obvious?" Yuffie asked.

"Kind of. Don't worry, Yuff. You'll be fine" Aerith said calmly.

"That's what you think" Yuffie muttered.

"No, it's what I know" Aerith replied with laughter in her voice.

"I hope so..." Yuffie said. "Where's Kai, anyways?" she asked.

"She's busy getting ready."

"Getting ready?! It's noon! The party doens't start until five!" Yuffie exclaimed.

Aerith smiled, "She wants to look good. I suggest you get ready, too."

"Only crazy people get ready five hours early" Yuffie said.

"Then I guess I'm one of those crazy people. I'll see you later, Yuff. Call me if you need any help" Aerith said making her way out.

Yuffie sighed and looked around her room. She fell back on her bed and went back to sleep with the dare never leaving her mind.

Waking up to banging on her door. She got up and opened the door to see Kairi in her fairy costume and Aerith in her princess constume. "Yuffie! Why aren't you ready yet?! We have to go!" Kairi said in a rush. She ran into Yuffie's room looking for her costume.

"Why? It's still early!" Yuffie groaned, not fully awake.

"Early?! Early?! It's 4:30!" Kairi screeched.

"Oww!" Yuffie protested as her costume was throws in her face and Kairi screeched in her ear.

"Here, change. _Now!_" Kairi and Aerith said the last part together.

Yuffie lazily changed her clothes. That is until what she had to do tonight came into her mind. She rushed through changing her clothes and slammed open the door revealing Aerith and Kairi wating there impatiently. As she was about to tell them to help her with getting ready they pushed her into Aerith's room next door and pushed her into a chair in front of Aerith's dresser mirror.

Kairi started brushing through the tangles in Yuffie's hair while Aerith busied herself with the makeup she would put on Yuffie.

"Aerith I don't want make-up. I don't need make-up. I have my mask" Yuffie said.

"Yes, you do need it. Don't argue" Aerith replied.

After about twenty minutes. Yuffie had her hair straight, glossy, and half up without the bandanna. Her face glowed slightly with bits of glitter.

"Okay, put these on" Aerith said handing her her shoes

"Now these" Kairi said the second after Yuffie fastened her shoes, handing her some gloves.

"Stand up" they said in unison and again Yuffie obeyed. She stood up and wobbled almost falling down. Kairi and Aerith held onto each her arm.

"Um.., I don't think I would have much success if I can't even walk" Yuffie said.

"Uh... you'll get a hang of it" Kairi replied. "Now stand still" she said as she and Aerith stepped away from her.

They looked her up and down. Looking for any more things they needed to change, take away, or add. Yuffie squirmed uncomfortable. She felt like she being examined and she didn't like it very much. After a while Aerith nodded with a smile.

"Looks good" Kairi agreed as Yuffie sighed.

"Um... where is Squall?" Yuffie asked before she stepped out of Aerith's room.

"Don't worry he's already there. He won't see you. He won't know it's you" Aerith assured her.

"Put on your mask just to make sure no one knows that's you" Aerith ordered before they opened the door of their house to the third district. Yuffie did as she was told.

Upon finally getting into the First District, where the party was held, Yuffie took a deep, shaky breath. Instead of taking the door that lead the Third District directly to the First they went around into the Second and finally the first, just to hopefully help Yuffie's nerves calm down a bit.

In the end the walk helped. But as Yuffie entered the First District all the calm words Aerith and Kairi had shared with her flew over her head and was never seen again. She walked over a corner and stood there her eyes sweeping the room for the gunblader. She wasn't really sure what Squall was dressing up as but knowing him he probably didn't dress up.

Soon enough her eyes lay upon the man she had to kiss before the end of the night. He stood nonchalantly parallel to the wall she was at, right in front of her. He stood leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, his head bowed down slightly so that his hair fell over his eyes. His trademark stand as Yuffie knew it.

Yuffie thought right. She looked Squall up and down and like she had thought he hadn't dressed up. He had his white shirt on, his leather jacket on top, black pants, four belts, boots, and gunblade. To any other person it would look like he did dress up but to people that he knew well, the outfit was getting old. But Yuffie couldn't complain. No matter how long her dressed like that he was still the hottest guy around.

She looked up at his face and was shocked to see him looking straight at her. She gulped down and looked away touching her face as casual as she could making sure no excess saliva had made it's way out. The butterflies in her stomach sped up to about a hundred and fifty miles per hour.

Standing alone on this corner with Squall on the other side still staring at her made her uneasy. Aerith and Kairi weren't her favorite people right now. First they make her do this, they make her go through with it, they leave her, and they're little walk didn't help her nerves any! They said that they were going to leave her so that Leon wouldn't suspect who she was if he saw them with her. She knew that was true but she was still mad at them for leaving her.

Not being able to stand the heat of his gaze any longer she walked to the punch table, which was located on the other side of the room. She went and stood by the wall there and looked around for any other people she knew.

"'Ey, do I know ye'?" someone said from beside her. Yuffie looked over and saw Cid standing behind the punch table and he was talking to her.

"Uh... I don't think so. Sorry," she replied.

"Ye' sure? Ye' look reall' familia'" he grunted.

"Ya I'm sure."

"Take of ye' mask. Mayb' I'll find out then'"

"Cid!" Aerith yelled happily from a few feet away. Giving Yuffie a small smile she ran to Cid and gave him a hug.

Yuffie sighed thanking Aerith silently for 'saving' her from the old grumpy gummy pilot. A hand grabbed her arm and dragged her the opposite way.

Yuffie turned around when she could and was about to fight when she saw Kairi smiling brightly at her. "Calm down, it's just me"

"Well you didn't have to scare me!"

"Sorry. Have you seen him yet?"

"No..." Yuffie lied hoping she could lie her way out of this.

"Oh... that's okay! I've seen him! Here I'll take you to him."

"Uh... No I thought we aren't supposed to be seen with each other" Yuffie thought fast.

"I can just say that I've met you a few times in town" Kairi said.

"B-B-But..." Yuffie stuttered unable to think of any more lies.

"Yuff, it's okay. Just calm down" Kairi said noticing she was flustered again.

"It's not okay! I want to see how you act if you were in my position with Sora!" she retorted.

Kairi blushed, "Shh! Alright. I'm sorry. I know you can do this."

Yuffie took yet another deep breath. "Let's get this over with," she said boldly and walked over to where Squall still stood.

As she got closer paranoia took over her. She pushed it away and forced herself to just go. Convincing herself to think it was like any other time that she would talk to him, she moved forward.

At the last moment she remember that she wasn't supposed to know him, "Hey there."

"Not interested" Leon said irritatedly. All night girl's had been coming over to him and asking him to dance and bothering the flip out of him.

Yuffie smiled lightly, knowing what he was talking about. "I'm sorry?" she asked innocently.

Leon moved his head slightly and locked gazes with her. His eyes grew wide for a second but soon returned to normal. "Nothing, sorry. Thought you were someone else" he said. He didn't know what it was about this girl but something about her had caught his attention earlier.

Yuffie stood there appalled. Had he just apologized to her? _He doesn't know it's me, though,_ she reminded herself. "It's quite alright" she smiled. Yuffie gagged in the inside. This was totally not her! Just the way she was talking was making her shocked. Yuffie looked over to the other side of the room as a new song played through the district and more people joined the dancing. "Would you like to dance?" Yuffie asked looking back at Squall.

Leon looked at the girl. He didn't know what drove him to it, "Sure."

Yuffie's eyes grew wide. _I just asked that out loud! And he said yes!_ Yuffie thought even more shocked. She blinked a couple of times trying to gain composure. After a while she smiled took the hand he had offered her. _Why is he all of a sudden being so nice to me? _she thought. 'Because he doesn't know it's you...' a voice in the back of her mind said. She kicked that voice... hard. Nothing was going to get her down tonight. Squall was treating her like she had always dreamed. 'So far' that voice said again. This time Yuffie's mentally jumped it and beat the crap out of it.

Yuffie put her hands on his shoulders while he put his on her hips. She smiled and looked up at him. "What's your name?" she asked keeping her cover.

"Leon" he answered giving her the name she hated. "Yours?"

"I like your name" she lied. "Yu--" she stopped abruptly. She hadn't thought this whole thing through. "Yulan" she said thinking fast.

"And I like yours" he replied.

Yuffie smiled, biting her lip slightly.

After a few more dances, 'getting to know' each other ('Yulan' made up some lies but most where true), talking about random things, and Yuffie sneaking off to talk to Kairi and Aerith every once in a while they found theirselves on the dance floor again do another slow dance.

Looking up at him she smiled. Switching her gaze to the sky above she finally noticed that it was a beautiful full moon. Looking back at Leon she saw his head move down just a bit. As Yuffie's heart beat thudded faster she raised her head a bit and waited for him to move in. Leon brought his head down and their lips crashed.

Aerith, Kairi, Sora, and Riku stood in a corner watching. Aerith and Kairi beamed huged grins, Sora stood in shock his jaw about to fall to the floor, while Riku watched in confusion. He hadn't really met Leon before so he didn't know what the big deal was.

Leon and Yuffie parted, gasping. They stood looking at each other, catching their breaths. Yuffie stuffed her face in the crook of his neck and hugged him around the waist. She smiled and bit her lip.

"Yulan" Leon said, cathing her attention.

"Yeah?" she asked.

Instead of answering her Leon reached a hand to take of her mask.

As Aerith saw this she quickly ran up and yelled "Leon!"

Leon looked over at a panting Aerith making her way to them. He glared at her, "What?"

Yuffie sighed in relief. "I need to talk to you" Aerith said, gasping. She took Leon's arm and smiled at Yuffie in front of Leon. "Get home" Aerith whispered to her once Leon was facing the other way.

Aerith turned around and pushed Leon through the throngs of people dancing while Yuffie made her way to the Third District doors. She pushed through and ran to their house.

After getting dressed for the night she heard the front door open and Aerith and the rest of them coming in. Yuffie smiled and laid in bed. Pulling the covers up she sighed in happiness. Closing her eyes she the night did a replay in her mind and she fell asleep with dreams that she no longer thought were so impossible.

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_I hope you guys like it! Reviews please! I actually liked this a whole lot more than I would've thought. So who knows, I might turn this into a short story sometime. Anyways please review! I hope you guys had a Happy Halloween!_


	2. Chapter 2

_So like I said before I liked this story more than I thought I would. And as it turned out, a lot of people liked it too. A whole lot more people than I thought. So I decided to turn it into a short story. Right now I'm thinking of only three to four chapters but we'll see how it turns out. Thank you for all the reviews!! They made me extremely happy to know you guys liked it!_

_Disclaimer: Still working on getting Square Enix to sell Kingdom Hearts to me. So far no luck... Hopefully next time I contact them they'll accept my ten dollar offer!_

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Yuffie rolled over and fell on the floor. Rubbing her head and slowly opening her eyes, she sat up and looked around. Glancing up at the clock on her side table, where she clonked her head, she saw that it was past one in the afternoon. She blinked a few times making sure that she saw right.

"Huh..." she whispered to herself and looked around once more as if she could find answers on her walls. Slowly getting up, she threw her blanket and pillow back on her bed. Her heart stopped. Her costume lay on the floor along with her mask and shoes. She thought back to last night when she was getting ready for bed. She was pretty sure she had hid them but now thinking back to it she merely remembered throwing it into a pile. Right by her open closet door. _Geez, Yuf! How stupid can you get? You put it right _next_ to the door! You couldn't even put it _inside, she scolded herself.

Had Squall come in here to wake her up, like always but seen the costume and been too mortified to awake Yuffie?

Yuffie, horrified at the thought, hurriedly got dressed in her usual set of clothes and walked out to the quiet hallway. Looking to her left where Squall's room was beside hers, Aerith's beside his and Kairi's in front of Squall's. All the doors were open except Kairi's. She quietly tiptoed and looked in Squall's room. Looked just like always. Neat, the bed made as if it had never been touched. She walked the short distance to Aerith's room and saw that it was just the same. Also empty and neat.

After a bit of hesitation she decided to take a peek into Kairi's room. Opening the door squeakily, she saw that Kairi was still asleep on her bed with Sora and Riku on the floor snoring. Yuffie stifled a giggle as Sora and Riku started fighting over a pillow and a blanket in their sleep. She closed the door as a quietly as she could.

She walked to the kitchen with a glance at the empty living room. She stopped at the doorway and watched Aerith busying herself in the kitchen with a late lunch for everyone. Aerith turned around and jumped at the sight of Yuffie.

Sighing, "Geez, Yuf, you scared me," but not once did the big, happy smile slide from her lips.

"Gawd, didn't know I looked that scary in morning," Yuffie replied. With the unhidden costume coming back to mind she asked, "Hey, how come no one came to wake me up this morning?"

"Huh?" Aerith asked, not paying attention. "Oh. Well Leon was going to but due to the time that we got home last night I though it might be better to let you guys sleep in."

"Oh. So Squall _never _went in my room?" she asked wanting to make sure.

"I'm pretty sure. Why?"

"Um... well... I _kinda_ forgot to hide the costume and stuff..."

"Yuffie! What were you thinking?!"

"I _wasn't _thinking! I was too happy to be thinking straight!"

Aerith softened and the smile came back, "I'm sorry. Don't worry about it. I doubt Leon would've had the time to go into your room. I stopped him right as he was going to wake you and he's been in the Waterway training ever since then."

Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Typical Squall. Training at early in the flippin' morning when we have nothing to be training for!"

"Yuf, you know he just wants to be ready. Just in case anything like the Heartless or Nobodies attack again. You know it killed him the first time the Heartless attacked and he was helpless. He blames himself for the people we lost that night because he wasn't ready and he couldn't save them."

"But it wasn't his fault! How the hell were we supposed to know--"

"Yuf, I know. I know it wasn't his fault. But he thinks it was. There's most likely nothing we can do to change that. Now, let's change the subject before we get caught up in the sad memories of the past. We're not going to let that ruin the night we had last night. Especially you."

"Okay... wait. I know why _I'm _so happy. But why are you?"

"Oh nothing," Aerith answered in the mysterious way of hers. "Will you go get the guys in the Waterway and tell them that lunch is almost ready?" she added before Yuffie could ask anymore.

"Sure..." Yuffie said.

Walking alone Yuffie thought about last night. All night it had been replaying in her head even in her dreams but yet she still couldn't believe that it was real. She started weighing the options of its reality. First, she had the costume and all that to prove it and Aerith obviously knew about last night, Sora and Riku were here... And she was pretty sure that if she went into the First District the mess that was made the night before would still be there. Then again, that only proved that last night happened. Not the kiss. She didn't really have solid proof that it happened. For all she knew her imagination could've went a tad bit too crazy and made the whole thing up in her mind. 

It certainly wouldn't have been the first time it happened. Only difference was this time it felt _real. _But she still couldn't shake that impossibility of it all from her mind. The thought of her imagination simply going on crack was a decent explanation she couldn't get rid of. She sighed, she'd ask Aerith and Kairi late just to make sure she wasn't going senile already. Seriously, she was far too young for that.

"This is what guys do to you," she grumbled to herself.

Nearing the Waterway Aerith's words came back to her mind. _Guys? _It was plural. Aerith, of all people, was a grammar lunatic. Was that just an honest mistake or could it be that... Yuffie drifted off. She ran the last few hundred feet to the Waterway and slowly, as quietly as she could, went into the water. Trying to make as little noise as possible she saw what she had been thinking.

"Cloud!" Yuffie screamed as she ran as fast as the water would let her to shore.

Yuffie's scream had startled both swordsmen and caused their swords to miss their target. Leon's sword hit the wall closest to them with immense force and resulted in leaving a huge dent in the wall. Cloud's went down to the ground and bounced a few times. All in all there were a bunch of metal clashes heard in the Waterway.

Yuffie cringed and covered her ears. "Yuffie!" Leon growled once the ruckus was over. He pulled his gunblade out of the wall as Yuffie ran to Cloud and threw herself on him, ignoring Leon. Cloud stumbled, suprised with Yuffie's sudden attack, but hugged Yuffie back once he had regained his composure.

After a few moments of hugging the life out of Cloud, she released him with bright eyes and a huge grin. "So that's why--" Yuffie cut herself off not sure she was allowed to reveal the flower girl's usual happy mood times a few hundred.

Meanwhile, Leon was leaned against the wall staring at the dark, murky water of the waterway, thoughts obviously on other things. "Aerith told to me to come get you two 'cause breakfast-slash-lunch is almost ready" Yuffie said. She thought for a moment, "Brunch! That's what it's called! Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. I forgot it for a second there."

Cloud shook his head with a small trace of a smile on his face, "I see you're the same as ever, Yuffie."

"Of course! _Some_ of us needs to _not_ change" she said aiming the statement at Squall by looking directly at him.

Leon, who had come back to reality when Yuffie started talking about brunch, shook his head and rolled his eyes to show it didn't affect him. "Let's go," he said pushing himself off the wall and into the water before Yuffie could say anything else.

Yuffie blinked and stared after Leon in amusement. He had just rolled his eyes and walked away without a word aimed at her. Something was different. Everytime Yuffie would shoot something at him he would usually shoot back in less than two seconds. Either, he was in a good mood or something else was bothering him. Yuffie swatted away the former. There was no way that was true. But what could be bothering him? Usually, well actually most of the time it was Yuffie that was bothering him.

Yuffie shook her head and glanced at Cloud and saw that he too looked a bit mystified. Cloud quickly composed himself and while staring curiously at Leon's retreating back he said, "Let's go, Yuffie."

Yuffie walked reluctantly back into the water and followed Leon's trail out of the waterway with Cloud right behind her.

* * *

Yuffie lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. She had just finished an awkward brunch. It was great having friends who they hadn't seen in a while finally back but it was just a weird feeling. There also wasn't very much to talk about.

Cloud wasn't very comfortable talking about the past since the last he had seen Aerith was the night of the attack and after that he had just disappeared without another word. He had seen Leon and Yuffie in the Coloseum a few times but they'd never talked nor told Aerith about it. It's not like he would've actually talked though even if there was something to talk about. Sora and Kairi were busy flirting with each other, staring at each other then abruptly looking away when the other person looked their way and they'd both turn a bright shade of pink and give a sheepish grin. Riku was quiet, still a bit ashamed of his whole turning-to-the-dark-side phase. Aerith was happy, as usual, and the only one that even made an effort to make small talk. After that failed she just started to tell stories and no one really bothered to even pretend they were paying attention. But Aerith seemed oblivious to everything but her story and Cloud. Leon was in a completely different world. The whole brunch through he simply stared at his plate with brows slightly scrunched together. At first Yuffie thought he was trying to make his food do tricks or something but after the first five minutes and he still hadn't taken a bite she came back to the theory that something really was bothering him. Squall was in no way stupid enough to even think he could make his food do tricks by simply concentrating hard on them. Then again maybe he was trying to blow them up. With Squall you never knew. All brunch she thought and thought of what could possibly be bothering him.

Now, in her room she couldn't help but have a sick feeling to her stomach. She had a pinch of a feeling she knew what it was. And it bothered her so much.

_What if he regretted ever kissing me-- er, Yulan last night? What if he **knew** that Yulan was me?! What if he really did come in to wake me up and saw the evidence? What if he fell in love with Yulan but now he'll never see her again? _Yuffie laughed, bitterly. "Don't flatter yourself, Yuffie" she said to herself.

Yuffie sighed. She should've never went along with that dare... Now she was stuck with another guessing game. Worse part was, she playing with Squall. She would _never_ win. She loathed guessing games. She would think and think and think and drive herself crazy over it. In the end she never wins. Now, she's playing with Squall. This is going to be a guessing game on steroids. Worse even, is the fact that it's _Squall. _Yuffie can be pretty darn nosy when it comes to others. But this is _Squall. _She cares just _tad bit_ more about what's going on in his head than others.

Yuffie grabbed the closest pillow to her and smacked it on her face a few hundred times until her arms started feeling numb. She groaned as she stared at the ceiling once more. _Of all the blasted guys in all the worlds why oh why did I just have to fall for the icebox hearted one, _she growled to herself.

She sat up with an annoyed sigh and slapped the mattress in the process. She looked around her room, looking for something to keep her occupied.

"Whoo!"

Yuffie looked around for the source of the noise. Her eyes landed on her calenedar under a pile of junk on her desk. She walked across the room and dug it out trying not to let anything fall and failing miserably. Her eyes scanned the page and she saw that it was the weekend after Halloween. Then it hit her. It was the weekend of the 'carnival'.

She rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock. Before she had been so excited about this weekend. It was the masquerade then it was a whole weekend of carnival fun. And now it was almost five and she had been sitting in her room driving herself crazy for the last two hours instead of having fun. Her thoughts flickered to Kairi. Her brows furrowed in confusion as to why she hadn't bothered Yuffie into going with her. Then she concluded that she had probably gone with Sora and Riku while Aerith went with Cloud.

And Squall... was going to be Squall. Most likely getting as far away as he could from it. That'd probably be pretty hard to do considering the fact that different booths and rides and the likes are located all through Traverse Town. Through all three districts. He was probably in the Waterway slashing at the air like a madman.

Yuffie took her headband off and looked frantically around for a hairbrush she knew she owned but had no clue as to where it lay considering she never brushed her hair. After a few dozen times of circling her room, she stopped, willing the room to also stop moving. Once the walls were steadily in place she went into Aeriths room and searched for her brush. Brushing her hair she was surprised to notice that it went through smoothly with only a few tangles. Any other time before last night she would've had been there for days to simply get the brush through one lock of hair.

* * *

Yuffie walked among the throngs of people in the Second District. Her eyes scanned the crowd for Squall. She had looked in the Waterway just after she had left the house but she was surprised to see that it was empty. Now she was in the Second District for the third time and still no sign of Squall. She didn't know exactly why she was looking for Squall, it wasn't like she was going to talk to him but for some reason she would feel a lot better knowing where he was and knowing he wouldn't suddenly pop out out of no where.

Grumbling to herself, frustrated she walked over to the wall and leaned on it. She closed her aching eyes and willed herself not to look around once again for him. She had attempted a few times to play some of the games set up and even go on the rides but she just wasn't feeling it. Not only was her mind on other things but she had no one to keep her company. She slowly banged her head on the brick wall behind her with a groan.

She opened her eyes with a slight sigh. She walked in the direction of the Third District doors. Stepping into the Third District she strode over to the door that led Merlin's cavern. She uttered a simple fire spell on the door and stepped into the cavern. She stopped short and waited until her eyes fully adjusted to the dim light. Jumping the pods and arriving at the the now empty 'house' she stepped inside. Aiming another quick fire spell to the torches around the room she looked around.

Merlin had stayed in Radiant Garden while the rest of the group had come back to Traverse Town and the cavern had been empty ever since. Yuffie did miss the old wizard. He had been the one to teach her the little magic she knew and he had been better company than you would think someone his age would be. Yuffie stepped onto the pedestal in the middle of the room and the next thing she knew she was on the next level. The 'magic training room' as Yuffie had so many times called it.

She muttered the spell Merlin had told her that would bring the few furniture pieces he had left for her to come 'alive'. Reaching for her pouch, she took out her shurikens. After Kingdom Hearts had been sealed she had thrown them off in happiness but after a just a few hours of not having them with her she felt vulnerable. Naked, even. Ever since then she kept it with her at all times.

She threw her shurikens at the dresser closest to her and whirled around flying her shurikens at random things. She stopped once she had run out of shurikens and went to dig them out of the scattered wooden furnitures. A few times she continued this until finally her legs and arms were aching, unbelievably. After once again collecting her shurikens, she slunk to the ground in a heap of sweat and sore muscles.

After a few dozen minutes of staying like that, which didn't seem all that long, she slowly got up. She knew she had to get out of the cavern to get some air before she grew claustrophobic.

"Ohhh" she groaned. "I definately got out of shape. I need to start training again..."

She slumped her way through the non-thinning crowds of the Third District and made her way to the house. She went to her room, closed the door and fell into the bed. She stared out her window up at the always-dark sky as her eyes flickered from star to star, her lids slowly drooped closed.

* * *

_Yuffie was running through the many halls of the castle in Radiant Garden. She was searching for something but she didn't know what it was. She twisted and turned along with the many confusing halls and tunnels of the castle. She opened doors here and there and looked in them, searching frantically. She ran and ran and searched and searched but still she couldn't find whatever it was she was looking for. _

_She ran into the ballroom and saw that there was some sort of party going on and it was packed with people. As her eyes scanned the crowd she saw Aerith, Cloud, Kairi, Riku, and Sora. They were all young. As she looked down at her own body she saw that it she was in her own body and not her younger one. She looked up at the group again. Squall. Squall wasn't among them. It was him she was looking for. She ran over to the group._

_"Where's Squall?" she gasped, trying to catch her breath._

_No one acknowledged her. It was as if she was invisible. Aerith and Cloud were being all love dovey while Sora, Riku and Kairi were talking about something, what she had no time to find out. She asked again as to where Squall was and got the same response as before. She stepped in front of them one by one and asked over and over again and they all simply looked right past her as if she was thin air._

_She looked around, insanely. Deciding there was nothing here that could help here and that she was wasting her time she bolted out of the ballroom. She ran the opposite way she had come from and again searched more. Ascending the stairs she heard a scream. A male scream. It was Squall. She just knew it was. _

_She ran as fast as she could following the sound of the voice she had heard and fighting her burning muscles and lungs. She slid to an abrupt stop at the split of two halls. She looked back and forth hoping Squall would scream again. Her prayers were answered by a pained scream coming to her left. She sprinted without hesitation and after what seemed like half an eternity she reached the chapel._

_She looked around until finally her eyes took in the form of a body on the ground in a corner on the farthest wall from her. Surrounded tons of shadow heartless, crawling everywhere. As she ran towards them her eyed unveiled the face of Squall as it was about twelve years ago. Automatically reaching for her pouch of shurikens she found that it wasn't there. Her eyes flicked everywhere in the chapel. She saw nothing that could be of use to fighting heartless. _

_After a moment of hesitation she turned back around, ready to charge. Just then one of the shadows crawled up on his chest and took his heart. Yuffie stood there wide-eyed in shock. She screamed and ran towards the body as the heartless started disappearing but just as she reached it the body too disappeared. _

Yuffie bolted up right, sweating and so close to hyperventilating. She focused on slowing her breathing and grabbed her blanket to wipe the sweat off her. Looking at the time she saw that it wasn't even nine at night yet. She slunk back onto the bed and took a few deep breaths now trying to calm her heart. That nightmare had caught her by complete suprise. She hadn't had a nightmare about the night of the attack for years.

She closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down. "It didn't mean anything," she whispered to herself. "Meant nothing. Absolutely nothing."

She sighed. She wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now. She was wide awake. She decided to give the carnival another try. As she walked out of the house she noticed that it was still empty.

She walked along the top of the Third District on her way to going down when she suddenly saw something that caught her eye. Big time. She squinted and looked more closely. It couldn't be...

* * *

_Ahh, a cliffie. Hehe. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It is now three o'clock in the morning as I finish this and just a little past as I post it up. I am incrdibly tired so I don't have time to proof read this for mistakes. So I'm really sorry for them. I'll check them some other time. As for now I hope you liked it, I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can, and good night, to those of you in my time zone if you're not then good morning or good afternoon to you._

_Oh and before I forget! I remember someone asked me how I came up with the name Yulan and no I did not get it from combining Yuffie with Mulan. I'm actually not really sure how I got it but somehow I did and I couldn't think of anything else at the time so I went with it. That was a good thought though. I wouldn't have thought of it._


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry, no excuse.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

* * *

It couldn't be… _she thought again. Yuffie squinted her eyes and leaned over as far as she could without taking a nose dive to the cement ground below. _

_Oh, but it was_.

Yuffie was still a young girl when the Heartless first attacked and the Bastion fell and she, along with her other companions, hadn't seen any of their old friends from there since then. Until yesterday, of course, but other than Cloud, they hadn't found anyone else. One would think that a young girls memories of her old friends from nine years ago would fade but not for Yuffie. She vaguely remembered what most of her friends had looked like; maybe it was because it was the only real childhood memories she had or because the last time that she saw them was when her home was being swallowed up in darkness, something that one wasn't bound to forget easily young or not. She knew that if she ever saw any of them again she'd recognize them. Just as she had with Cloud.

And this time was no different. She was sure that who she saw down there was in fact the girl from nine years ago. It was Rinoa. Squall's past love, Rinoa. The reason that Squall became Leon. She was standing by the doors leading to the First District with Aerith, Cloud, and Leon himself. Who was smiling. That alone was a shocker. And even though Yuffie knew it was a good thing he was smiling, that he was happy, it still saddened her.

She resented Rinoa for being able to put a smile on Squall's face so easily, without seeming to put on any effort while she had tried so hard to do so the past few years and had only succeeded a handful of times.

Yuffie glanced back at the house and contemplated going back inside, climbing into bed, and wake up the next morning to find out it was just a dream. But she knew she couldn't, shouldn't. She knew it wasn't just a dream. She knew that she'd have to face Rinoa eventually. Running away now would probably just end up biting her in the butt. So gathering all the courage and perkiness she could muster and with a deep breath she walked down to the first level of the Third District and made her way through the crowd to her group of friends and the unwanted visitor.

"Yuffie, there you are!" Aerith exclaimed as her eyes fell on the young ninja. Yuffie noticed that Aerith was slightly bouncing on the balls of her feet. She shook her head, slightly and plastered her trademark grin on her face.

"Hey guys! What's going on?"

"Yuf, look who we found!" Aerith squealed meanwhile motioning to Rinoa.

Yuffie glanced at Rinoa for the first time since she joined the group and decided to play dumb. "Uh… who would that be?" she asked looking back at Aerith her head slightly bent to the side and her eyebrows stitched together. Yuffie knew she was a horrible liar but she sincerely hoped that she could convince them.

"Yuffie, you don't remember?" Aerith asked. "It's Rinoa!" she continued when Yuffie said nothing.

Yuffie glanced at Rinoa again noticing that she was smiling at her. "Rinoa?" Yuffie muttered.

"It's alright if you don't remember me. You were still a kid when we were friends" Rinoa said to Yuffie.

Yuffie's temper flared. She hated being called a kid. Sure, she knew very well that she _was_ a kid back then but it still angered her. Especially coming from her of all people. She also wasn't thrilled about being told what was and wasn't alright. Especially from Rinoa who barely even knew her! She bit back the retort that threatened to escape her mouth and instead replied, "Oh, well yeah that's probably it." She meant to say it in a nonchalant manner but it ended up being laced with sarcasm.

Rinoa blinked in shock but soon had a smile back on her face. "Well, I'll leave you guys to it. I'm going to go… do… something. Have fun!" Yuffie said before anyone else had a chance to say something as she started to walk away from them. After taking a few steps she turned back and added as an afterthought, "Oh, and it's good to see you again! I guess."

Yuffie walked through the doors that lead to the First District. She looked for something that looked entertaining but nothing appealed to her at the moment. She sighed. Her thoughts weren't going to give her any peace tonight. She decided she needed to go somewhere to think. And the perfect place instantly came to her mind. The roof of the Gizmo Shop. She loved going up there to think. She also loved just looking down at the towns people milling about unaware that they were being watched.

Pushing her way through the throngs of people she noticed how everyone was so happy. Enjoying the night, the carnival, being with their friends. Yuffie wished she was one of those people. She remembered how excited she'd been when she first found out about this weekend. And now that it was here it was just one great big ball of complexity. She sighed.

Maybe, if she hadn't accepted that stupid dare it wouldn't be like this. _Well, what would be different, _she asked herself. Maybe, she wouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She didn't want to admit it but she did. No matter how hard she'd tried not to she had ended up getting her hopes up. And like always they just got crushed down. In the worst way possible, too, as far as she was concerned. _Stupid Rinoa. She just had to come back and ruin everything. _She shook her head. No. That wasn't fair to Rinoa and she knew it. Yuffie knew Rinoa hadn't done anything wrong. She was alive, she'd survived the invasion and she should've been happy for her. Happy for her friends for having found one of their long lost friends. Happy for Squall for having Rinoa back in his life. But she wasn't. She knew she was being selfish but she couldn't help it. Jealousy burned in every fiber of her being.

_No. Stop it, Yuf. _Besides, what was there for Rinoa to ruin, anyway? It's not as if Squall was suddenly in love with her. They've been together for years and he still could barely tolerate her. No, there was no way he'd have fallen in love with her overnight. Even if the impossible had happened, though, and he somehow fell in love last night, it still wasn't with her. It was with Yulan. Yuffie was well aware of that. And she hated it.

Having been lost in her thoughts she didn't notice where she was going. She looked around and saw that she was already in the Second District. She made her way to the Gizmo Shop and climbed the rickety ladder to the roof. She sat down on the edge with her legs dangling over the side and looked over the District. This District only had booths; most of the rides were in the Third District.

There were booths of all kinds, mostly for little kids but could really be for all ages. There were the regular booths that had the ring toss, bean bag toss, darts, rock climbing, face painting, cake walk, a couple of moon bounces and some others she couldn't figure out. Then there were the Halloween-related booths. Those she wasn't too sure of. On top of those, there were the snack booths and booths that had things for sale.

She heard a scream. Looking around for the source of the noise she saw a group of kids that were having a cake fight. She watched them throw the cake at each others faces and then run away from those that wanted revenge. She smiled to herself. "Life was so much easier as a kid," she sighed. And she couldn't help but wish that she had the same freedom as they did.

* * *

The next morning Yuffie woke up early. Which was a surprise since she was most definitely _not_ a morning person. She just stayed in bed for a few minutes and contemplated going back to sleep. In the end she decided that it would be best if she got an early start on the day.

After she was done getting ready for the day she made her way to the kitchen. On her way she noticed that Squall's door was still closed. _Huh, _she thought. _I got up before him? Well that's a surprise. He probably stayed up really late last night and was exhausted. He would've been spending as much time as he would with Rinoa.. _Rinoa. Yuffie froze and looked back at Squall's closed bedroom door. Well, they were a couple back then. They were happy to see each other last night. They were both adults. Adults with certain adults needs. But no. They couldn't have possibly.. Yuffie shook her head violently to rid her mind of images that made her want to claw her brains out. Ugh, she felt sick.

Slowly, she walked into the kitchen and saw that Aerith sitting at the table with her morning cup of coffee and the newspaper. Yuffie sat across from her pink clad friend and dropped her head onto the table with a small _thump_.

"Yuffie?" She could tell the flower girl was surprised to see her. Whether it was the way she'd entered the room or her presence at this early hour of the day, she wasn't sure.

"Aerith, I feel sick," Yuffie mumbled into the table.

"Yuf, what's wrong? Can I help you somehow?"

"Ugh. Only if you dip my brain in acid and make sure to scrub it until it was squeaky clean."

"Sorry, come again?"

Yuffie heard the confusion in her friends voice and she snorted a bit. Raising her head from the table she said, "Nothing, never mind. Um. So what happened with that Rinoa girl? Did she leave?" Yuffie tried to keep herself from sounding too hopeful.

"Oh, no, of course not. No, she's sleeping in Leon's room right now."

Yuffie's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. So she was right. Aerith just confirmed it. "She-In-Squall-She-WHAT?" Yuffie whispered horrified. Merlin, she swore those images in her mind were mocking her. She felt like truly throwing up.

Aerith looked at her confused and then as if a light bulb went off in her head she realized what Yuffie must've been thinking. "No, no, no! Nothing like that, Yuf. Rinoa didn't have a place to stay-"

"There's a perfectly good hotel not five minutes away from here!" Yuffie interrupted.

"Yuf, with the masquerade and the carnival this weekend the hotel was fully booked weeks ago. And before you interrupt me again, Leon offered her his room to sleep in and he slept on the couch. Nothing happened."

Yuffie couldn't help but mutter, "Yet.."

Aerith looked at her sympathetically, "Oh, Yuf. I'm sorry. I know this must be hard for you considering what happened at the masquerade and then Rinoa showing up and her past with Leon." She sighed. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Get rid of her." Yuffie grumbled before she could stop herself.

"Now, Yuffie." Aerith said in that stern tone of hers.

Yuffie sighed. "I know, I know. I shouldn't have said it, sorry."

Yuffie knew that wasn't fair to Rinoa. She knew Rinoa hadn't done anything wrong. She was alive, she'd survived the invasion and she should've been happy for her. Happy for her friends for having found one of their long lost friends. Happy for Squall for having Rinoa back in his life. But she wasn't. She knew she was being selfish but she couldn't help it. Jealousy burned in every fiber of her being.

"Aerith, this is killing me. I don't know what to do! I mean that night was great and all but geeze, I'm driving myself insane here! And really, I think we all know I'm crazy enough as it is! Any crazier and it's just not healthy.."

Aerith laughed softly, "Talk to me, Yuf. Is there anything I can do to help? A way that doesn't concern Rinoa."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. Its not like she was actually planning on hurting the woman! She just wanted her out of the picture. "No, maybe, I don't know! I just.. I thought that that night would've helped me get over him, you know? I mean I've fantasized about kissing him and being with him for so long and I thought that maybe when it happened I'd get over it. You know fantasy fulfilled and whatnot. But it just made it worse. It made me realize just how much I want more. How much I've always wanted more. And for a while I thought I could get it but then she came into the picture and I don't know what to do.."

"You still have a chance with him, you know."

"How? How is that even possible? He liked Yulan. He hates Yuffie."

"You know he doesn't hate you! He just-"

"Can't tolerate me whatsoever."

"Stop interrupting me! I was going to say that perhaps you guys just don't see eye to eye. You're perky and he's more quiet. Maybe if you calmed down a bit when you tried talking to him and stopped pushing his buttons then you guys could actually get along."

"Humph. Even if I were to do that and he somehow came around to liking me for me, that's exactly all it would be. He'd just _like_ me. Why would he be with me when he could be with someone like Rinoa?"

"Stop comparing yourself to her."

"Why? I mean he fell in love with her didn't he?"

"When he was a teenager he did, Yuf. But that was more than ten years ago. He's grown up and he's obviously changed. Perhaps his taste in women has too. It's your job to find out."

"Just how am I supposed to do that?"

"Ask him."

"Excuse me? Have you lost your mind?"

"I'm serious, Yuf. Ask him, be honest with him."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" When Aerith remained silent Yuffie continued. "Are you telling me to tell him the truth? About Yulan? And me? And, you know, my feelings?"

"I am." Aerith said it so confidently. Like she honestly thought she'd come up with the best solution in the world. Yuffie wanted to smack her.

"Sweet Merlin, you have lost your mind!"

Aerith pursed her lips at the young ninja. "I have not!"

"Just how do you think that's going to help? That's going to ruin whatever the hell kind of relationship I have with the man! When he finds out that I have these.. _feelings_ for him he's going to run, screaming like a madman! He'll never come near me again!"

Aerith rolled her eyes. "You exaggerate too much, seriously. He is not going to run, screaming like a madman-"

"And just how would you know that?"

"Just how would you know that he won't tell you he harbors the same feelings towards you?"

"I-" Yuffie squinted at her. "Is that a trick question?"

"No, it isn't. My point is you don't know just how he feels. You won't know until you ask. You need to make your move. Square your shoulders, march right up to him and tell him how you feel!"

"Wha- Square my shoulders and march up to him? Really? That's a little cheesy and besides I simply do _not _march-"

"Yuffie!"

"I just had to point that out. How the heck am I supposed to do this?"

"Just tell him, Yuf. You don't know it might end up for the better. You two could end up together." Aerith smiled encouragingly.

"Yeah, _might_. Might not." Yuffie muttered.

"Stop being pessimistic and go!"

Yuffie took a deep breath. Merlin help her she was going to do this. She was done waiting. She knew what she wanted and it was about time she did something about it. She was going to get it. She was _not_ going to let Rinoa take all of that away from her. Rinoa had her chance and she ruined it. Okay, well that wasn't completely true considering it was the Heartless that ruined it for her but she definitely could've shown up a lot sooner than ten years! Nonetheless, it was Yuffie's turn. And she wasn't giving up without a fight.

Yuffie stood up and asked, "Where is he, Aerith?"

Aerith smiled proudly at the young, determined ninja. "The Waterway."

Yuffie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She turned around and walked out of the house. She made her way through the doors that led to Second district. Slowing her pace a little she looked around and saw the mess that was left from the weekend. A few townspeople were helping clean the mess and she knew they'd be busy for a while.

Entering the alley, Yuffie slowed to a snails' pace. The closer she got the more her confidence wavered. Merlin, what the hell was she doing? This couldn't possibly end well. She was in over her head. _Calm down. I'll just tell him and then we'll go back to the way it's always been._

She stopped abruptly. She realized that wouldn't be true. Whether or not this turned out in her favor it wouldn't go back to the way it was. Everything would change. Either Leon reciprocated her feelings and they'd end up together. Or he didn't reciprocate them and everything would be awkward between them and it would just ruin everything! _Holy bejeezus, I can't do this! _She turned around and started back towards the house.

_With great risk comes great rewards._

She had no idea where that came from but it stopped her in her tracks once more. She agreed with that statement but the pessimistic side of her couldn't help but add, _or great consequences. _She shook her head and straightened up. She decided that she'd held on to these feelings for far too long and it was about time that she did something about it. If Leon felt the same way then great she'd be happy for the rest of her life! And if he didn't then sure it would hurt but at least in time she could learn to let go and move on. She couldn't just pine for him for the rest of her life. It was time for her to move on, with or without him.

She marched her way into the waterway, just like Aerith had told her and she insisted she wouldn't do. She saw Leon swinging his gun blade around, slicing invisible enemies into bits. She gulped. Would he be so furious with her about Yulan that she'd be the next thing his gun blade would slice through? _Well at least I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of having to move on and the shame of admitting these feelings for him!_

Clearing her throat, "Uhm, Leon?"

He continued to slash his sword through the air.

"Leon? I need to talk to you," she tried again.

No response except for the whistling in the air from his gun blade.

"LEON!"

Leon stopped and sighed. Slowly turning around he said, "What is it, Yuffie?"

_Well at least he isn't glaring at me! That's a start.. _

"Heh, uhm, well, I just couldn't help but notice how fiercely you were killing the, well, air.."

"…"

"Heh, heh, heh, so uh, is everything okay? I mean, like, are you okay?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, "What are you up to?"

"What? Nothing! I was just genuinely concerned about you, gosh! I came in here to see if everything was alright and you go and accuse me of being up to something!"

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Right, I'm fine, Yuffie. Everything is alright."

"Oh. Well, are ya sure? Cause I mean-"

"Yuffie.." he said with a warning tone.

"Right. Well, uh, okay, I think I'm just gonna get going then, since you know everything's okay and all!" Yuffie blurted out as she started wading back into the water.

"Yuffie, I-" Leon began.

"Actually, I lied. I know, it's a shocker. Me? Lie? Never! But except for this time obviously! And this is the only time, I swear!" Leon glared at her. "Okay, uh, I actually did come in here for another reason.." She drifted off.

"And what was that reason?"

Yuffie looked up startled as if she wasn't expecting him to ask. "Heh, oh so how's Rinoa doing? I mean, I'm sure you two are all happy you found each other after all these years, right? Now you can be together again and stuff, right?"

Leon looked away.

"Well, I mean, I know it's none of my business and all but I was just saying now that she's back in the picture there's no chance for uhm, any other girls huh?" Yuffie asked. "Or guys! For Rinoa, I mean.." She added, hastily.

Leon stared into her eyes, "What girls?"

"Wha-? Uh.. You know females? Heh, like girls around town that may or may not be interested? I mean just like, hypothetically.."

He took a step towards her. "Girls.. Around town.. Hm, like.. Yulan?" Another step closer.

Yuffie's eyes grew wide. She quickly tried to hide her surprise. "Uh, Yu- Who? I've never heard of that name before. It's crazy what parents name their kids these days. Alright, well I should go. I bet Aerith's looking for me!" Yuffie dashed back into the water. Or well tried to but before she could even take a step Leon grabbed her wrist and was standing very close to her. Yuffie stared at his chest and gulped.

"You're not getting away that easily. I already let you get away Friday night."

Yuffie's head shot up to look him in the eyes. "Wha- What?"

"Don't insult my intelligence. I know it was you."

Yuffie laughed nervously, "I have no idea what you're talking about, Leon!"

"See through out the night, I noticed some interesting things about Yulan. Things that she seemed to have in common with you.. Then, the next day, I saw another thing that you two had in common. Your Halloween costume.. You want to explain that?"

Yuffie's mind was reeling. _Holy cheezits! He knows! He's known all along! _She felt a big weight lift off her shoulders.

"Yuffie? And don't bother with some lame excuse."

_He's known all along.. And he didn't say anything? What the-? _The weight was then replaced by annoyance and tons of it. She hit him in the chest. Hard. But considering his chest was rock hard she felt that she did more damage to herself than to him. And she saved her squealing like a school girl for later.

"You! You knew this whole entire time and you didn't say _anything? _You did _nothing _while I drove myself to the bring of insanity? You, you, Squall Leonhart are one cruel man!" She glared at him.

Leon smirked. "You lied to me. On more than one occasion. I think I deserved to see you have a spaz attack. Several actually."

Yuffie balked. "Firstly, my lying is not the point right now. Secondly, you deserve nothing! Thirdly, I do _not_ spaz!"

Leon's brow rose.

"Okay, alright maybe just a little."

"So there was something you wanted to tell me?"

"Not anymore!"

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me."

"I-" Well she didn't exactly have a problem with that..

"Yuffie. It's me. Just tell me. Whatever it is, just tell me," he said softly.

She stared into his blue eyes but couldn't help but blurt out, "What about Rinoa?"

His eyes hardened, "She's not a part of my life anymore. She hasn't been for years."

"But you were in love with her. And she you."

"We were teenagers, Yuf. A lot has happened since then. Things change, people change. I don't want the same thing I used to."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to tell me what you were going to tell me."

Yuffie humphed. Of course he'd say that. "I.." _Aw, hell. He already knows so why not? _"I think I kinda, sorta like you.. A lot.."

Leon fought back the urge to smile. "Really now?"

"Uh huh. And I was kinda wondering how you felt about that? Or.. Me?"

"I feel.. Good about that. And I think that I kinda, sorta like you.. A lot too."

Her heart jumped and her eyes brightened up. "Really?"

In reply he leaned in to her, slowly. His eyes posed the question and hers replied eagerly. Their lips met gently. Slowly, building up to something more. Then suddenly, Leon pulled back, clearing his throat, "I think we should start heading back." He laced his fingers through hers and tugged her towards the alleyway.

Yuffie glared, "You, Squall Leonhart are one cruel man!"

_The End._


End file.
